Table Talk
by Shadowdib
Summary: Tom and Sonic have a discussion about what Sonic was doing before the events of the movie and how long he's been on his own. Set a couple of days after the end of the movie.


"Geez, have you never had pizza before?" Tom leaned on the table as Sonic inhaled his fifth slice. How could such a little hedgehog eat so much? Well, he _did _have to have a lot of energy to burn. Heck, now that he thought about it, it's a wonder he didn't eat _more._ Better add some extra to the food budget.

"Not warm and fresh like this. The pizza place on fourth threw the perfectly good extras away a lot, but I never had any luck trying to warm it up over a fire. The microwave only worked sometimes and it just made it all gooey, the sauce soaking into the bread." Sonic gave an appreciative hum.

"What'd you normally eat? Berries?" Maddie usually didn't treat hedgehogs, they were an 'exotic pet' and besides Sonic's anatomy was still kind of a mystery to all of them.

"Oh, I could breeze through the grocery store and get whatever I wanted, I wasn't starving or anything." Sonic waved a hand. "I had strawberries sometimes though, those were good."

"Explains why Jake ran low on everything twice a week." Tom brushed through his hair.

"Heh, yeah, I'd say sorry but a hedgehog's gotta eat." Sonic wiped at his face with his arm, smearing pizza sauce all over blue fur, and Tom tossed him a napkin.

"What'd you eat back home?"

"Back-"

"I mean, the place you're from. Did you have parents there? You mentioned a claw something, is that an orphanage?"

"Longclaw was…" Sonic chewed on his lower lip. "She was like my mom, she protected me and helped keep me safe."

"Did she send you here alone?"

Sonic nodded. "A bunch of red-furred guys attacked when they saw my speed. I'm pretty sure they were echidnas like in the fairy tales she used to tell me. She had the biggest wings, and they were so good for hugging, honestly I don't know how the bones bent that way-"

"She wasn't a hedgehog? I was picturing- you, but like my height. Maybe pink."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Why would she be pink? She was brown, with a pretty gold necklace. She was your height though, maybe even taller."

"Okay, you being three feet tall is because you're a kid, good to know. So I can look forward to you being terrifying when you're my height."

Sonic zipped around the table, nudging Tom with his elbow. "Come on, I'll be the same lovable little scamp you decided to invite into your home."

"I don't think you breaking in and me tranqing you is exactly 'inviting'," Tom muttered, and Sonic vanished, reappearing with one of his comics and waving it around.

"Moving me into the attic counts, does it not?"

"_That _part was inviting," Tom ruffled Sonic's fur, brushing over the edge of his ears to hear a tiny purr. (Sonic adamantly refused to admit that he did it, but Maddie thought it was adorable. Secretly, so did Tom.) "So, how long ago was this? A couple of years? You seemed to know Green Hills pretty well even before we officially met." He took a sip of his coffee.

Sonic tried to count on his fingers. "I was… hmm. I made a mark of my height on the cave but it ended up smudged when I was rearranging stuff. I think I was four?"

The coffee sputtered over the table. "You were _four?_ Do alien hedgehog years translate funny or-"

"No, I'm going by human years, I don't remember Mobian years after being here so long."

Tom slumped back in the year. "And now you're-"

"Fourteen! I think! I'll be honest, I don't remember my birthday either because Mobius and Earth use totally different calendars. Unless you've got one of those hanging around? That'd be nice."

"I- no, I don't have a Mo-whatever calendar just hanging around. You were living on your own for _ten years?_ That's two-thirds of your life!"

Sonic's ear twitched as his head tilted. "Yeah? I thought you knew that."

"I knew you'd been watching us for a few years, and I knew you were a kid, but- Sonic, around here, humans usually don't leave their parent's house to strike out on their own until they're at least sixteen, and most of the time it's eighteen or older. Human kids wouldn't _survive _living on their own at four."

"I'm not a human kid." Sonic blinked.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but- geez. That explains a lot." Sure, he'd figured Sonic talking so much was a product of living on his own, but really, it was a wonder that the kid wasn't a complete basket case.

"Longclaw just wanted to protect me. If she'd followed, they might have been able to track her."

"She could have sent someone after you, couldn't she? How did she even end up raising you, did she know your parents?"

"My… parents?"

"Did she ever tell you?"

Sonic's chin thunked on the table. "No, she said there was a lotta stuff that she was going to tell me when I got older. Now I'm older, and I got nada. One day when I'm _older _older, maybe I can go back and ask her. If…"

"If?" Tom prodded, and Sonic shook his head.

"She- she sent me to Earth but when the ring was closing, the mean guys were all chasing both of us, and she got shot with an arrow."

Tom couldn't hold back a wince. "Well, if she managed to raise you for four years, she'd have to have nerves of steel. Maybe she's okay, especially if they just wanted you. They might have just asked her for information."

"Yeah, maybe…" Sonic turned, cheek fur smushing against the wood. "So, what'a'bout you? Who raised you?"

"My dad was a police officer, just like I am, and my mom helped out on the farm."

"Oh, oh, the cow sweater lady and the guy who's got a big, booming titan voice?"

"Yeah, that's them. I'll have to introduce you sometime."

Sonic grinned. "I'll be on my best behavior!"

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really, really really! Absolute best, promise!" He made an 'x' over the middle of his chest.

"You know, usually that goes on the right side, over the heart." Tom showed him, and Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Well, duh, my heart's in the middle, that's why it's in the middle."

"Really?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with ya. I have no idea where all my internal organs are, but I made you think, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did." Tom stood up, using a napkin to dab at the coffee on the table before it soaked in and stained. "Want to go on patrol with me? I'll let you ride on the roof if you keep a grip on the light and promise not to scare the pigeons again."

"I can't promise that."

"At least try, Sonic."

"I'll try, I'll try." In the time it took Tom to tug on his vest, Sonic had grabbed the 'Green Hills Police Department' shirt that hung past his tail and hopped on top of the new squad car. "Woo!"

As Tom pulled open the door, he couldn't help a smile.


End file.
